Tony Romo: Hall of Famer?

With the breaking news that the four-letter network just can’t stop talking about–that Tony Romo is taking his ball and going home…or to the broadcast booth to replace another former NFC East quarterback, the inevitable question has come up multiple times today with said network on as background noise in the office (and with Stephen A. Smith, noise is the operative word):

DALLAS – DEC 14: Taken in Texas Stadium on Sunday, December 14, 2008. Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo on the sideline during a game with the NY Giants speaking with Jason Garrett.

Is Tony Romo a Hall of Fame quarterback?

His resume is impressive–at least for a non-drafted free agent playing the most important position under for the biggest brand in professional sports today. And if I’ve heard right, most of the blowhards have him going into the Hall at some point.

Romo started 127 games in his 13 year career (playing in 156), finishing with a 78-49 regular season record. He completed 65.3% of his passes, threw for 34,183 yards, and had a 248-117 TD to INT ratio. His career QB Rating was 97.1.

Of course, the flip side of things–he was 2-4 in the four playoff appearances he led the Cowboys to. He did throw for 8 TDs to 2 INTs in the playoffs, but his completion % dropped to 61.6%, and his rating dropped to 93.0.

Perhaps even more telling–he had just four Pro Bowl appearances (in an era when some questionable names appeared in the Pro Bowl), and had zero All-Pro selections. Whie his career passer rating ranks as 4th all-time (behind Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady), his career numbers also put him at 29th all-time in Yardage and 21st in touchdowns. He averaged less than 10 starts per season in his career (partly due to injury, partly due to not starting until his third season), starting all 16 just four times–and only three times in his career did he lead the team to more than 8 wins (and four more seasons at 8 wins–two of which were injury shortened).

At the end of the day, when you look at the era he played in, it would be my opinion that Romo doesn’t stack up to the competition to make the cut for the Hall–Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are locks, Rodgers almost certainly is, and there is still Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger (multiple time Super Bowl winners), not to mention younger guys like Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco with a lot of years left to pad their profiles.

Romo had a decent career, that had he not spent a lot of the last few years injured, may have warranted more of a look–but the more I look at it, I’m not even sure why their is as much coverage being devoted to it as their is–at the end of the day, we’re talking about a guy that started fewer games, won fewer playoff games, appeared in fewer Super Bowls and won fewer MVPs than Rich Gannon–so where is the Gannon for Hall of Fame discussion?

About The Author

Involved in the digital world since 1998, Tony somehow parlayed his passion for wasting hours online into an actual career, where he now runs a successful digital marketing agency in the Twin Cities. He doesn't have as much time to write for Zoneblitz as he'd prefer, but still makes the site hum, so to speak.

28 Comments

Rasputin
on April 4, 2017 at 6:45 pm

I’ll post my response to Rick Gosselin on Talk of Fame:

Romo’s real stats are his top 4 career passer rating, top 5 completion percentage, and averaging almost 270 yards/game. No one’s arguing on behalf of Romo over career total yardage (he didn’t even start until age 26 and was never going to make his mark there), so that’s something of a straw man, and anyone who knows anything about NFL history knows there’s no point in comparing passing stats from eras decades apart.

He also led the league twice in yards/attempt, helping to usher in a return to long passing gains not seen since before the West Coast offense emphasizing short, high percentage passing became popular, and frankly since the 1960s given the general passing stat deflation of the 1970s. Romo accomplished LONG high percentage passing. For a while, around 2009, the career y/a leader board consisted mostly of a bunch of guys from the 1960s or earlier like Otto Graham (who still holds the record at 8.6) , Sid Luckman, and Norm Van Brocklin…..and Tony Romo up there with them like some glorious anachronism. Since then a few other current players have joined them and Romo has slipped slightly (a byproduct of the more “careful” past few years), but he still ranks high on the list.

Romo’s real legacy is his brilliant and exciting improvisational skill and his clutch play closing out a half or game, which ranks among the all time greats. At least as of 2013, when Fox Sports and USA Today published this study, Romo….

– Ranked #1 in career 4th Quarter passer rating (then at 102.9). In fact Romo got better each quarter, finishing his career with a 106.1 OT rating.

– Romo had the highest career passer rating in the final two minutes among active QBs (then 93.1).

Romo also posted 30 game winning 4th Q/OT drives in his career, and 28 from 2006 through 2014, his last full season, which is tied for 1st in that span with Eli Manning.

I think if the Cowboys had played Romo last year once he was healthy there’s a good chance Dallas wins the Super Bowl, the franchise solidifies its relevance in the 21st Century, and fans and players get the story book ending they wanted. Instead the “brain trust” didn’t even allow that chance, opting instead for a myopic course of action that was doomed to failure from the start, squandering the season that was their best opportunity so far this century to win the SB.

If Romo had combined all these impressive statistical accomplishments with a single Super Bowl win he’d have a solid Hall of Fame case. If he’s really retiring, then he’s a borderline candidate.

He has no realistic chance to make the Hall of Fame any time soon when Dallas’ own HoF rep immediately comes out with a column arguing AGAINST his candidacy (seriously, what other rep does that to their own team?). Even when Dallas finally has a new HoF rep, given the more clear cut Cowboys still excluded from Canton, I won’t hold my breath waiting for Romo’s induction.

HoF or not though, he was a legitimately great QB who almost single handedly gave millions of fans a reason to keep watching and believing for a decade.

Rasputin
on April 4, 2017 at 7:14 pm

I’ll add that, with all due respect, the “averaged less than 10 starts per season” line is stupid because, as you say, Romo wasn’t playing QB his first 2 and a half years. Romo’s career was shorter than some other great QBs, but he started all 16 games 4 seasons (Ben Roethlisberger has done that 3 times in a longer career), and in 2009 was the only QB in the NFL to take every snap from scrimmage. Romo has started more games for Dallas than any QB except Troy Aikman, and he has a higher winning percentage than Aikman, and Eli Manning, and Rich Gannon, and Drew Brees, and most other modern top QBs for that matter.

Romo should have gone to at least 5 and probably more Pro Bowls. He was royally robbed in 2011 when he posted a 102.5 seasonal rating and was passed over for lesser players.

The Gannon comparison is even more stupid than the “average” starts per seasons thing. Rich Gannon was a good QB who played in a high volume passing attack for a long time but there’s no comparison between his efficiency stats and Romo’s, even when measured against their respective contemporaries. Sure, praise Gannon for his own case if you want–maybe you even value making it to a SB (and losing) more than Romo’s superior efficiency stats or what Tony routinely did at the end of games for a decade- but don’t pretend their cases are similar.

Come on now, Tony. It’s one thing to say you don’t expect or want Romo in the HoF, but I expect better out of you than frivolous snark.

Boknows34
on April 4, 2017 at 10:05 pm

Not exactly a surprise to hear Gosselin pouring cold water on a Cowboys player’s chances for Canton.

My guess is he gets in eventually towards the end of his eligibility. With Romo in the top seat at CBS, his name will also continue to be in the media spotlight. I think with time, more people will come to appreciate how good he was.

Corey
on April 4, 2017 at 11:51 pm

I try not to let championships or lack there of define whether a QB is a worthy Hall of Famer. I see Ryan as more Canton worthy than Romo.

So with all due respect, I’m an idiot? **GRIN** I’ve been called worse.

This is exactly why we post articles like this, to get great discussions going. You’ve obviously dug deeper into his stats than I did.

However, I would argue that you’re grasping at some straws, if you’re arguing that he is a lock for the Hall–a top 4 career passer rating (when the top 3 are contemporaries), top 5 completion % (again, against all contemporaries–one of whom is Chad Pennington), and 270 yards/game likely won’t even be a part of the conversation, given how he stacks up in the core stats that a lot of voters will look at. Not to mention, the 270 yards per game is apparently an estimate, based on factoring out games he didn’t play completely, or something? ProFootballReference has him at 219.1, good for 36th all-time. If he was at 270, it would be good for 5th all-time, right behind four contemporaries.

Depending on what stat you want to look at, he actually wasn’t at his best in the 4th quarter–he was at his best in the 3rd (highest passer rating) or 2nd (highest yardage, most 1st downs, best completion %, most attempts, most completions). He did have his highest number of touchdown passes in the 4th quarter. And the comebacks…The OT rating? That’s based on 28 passes thrown in overtime.

4th Quarter Combacks–PFF has him at 25 for his career, good for 14th all-time, tied with Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford–and behind four active players, and two more that had significant career overlap. I haven’t found a site that shows me his actual overtime wins–maybe that gets him up to 30, but Hall of Fame voters aren’t going to look at just 2006 to 2014 when comparing him to those he played against.

I was dumfounded by his lack of more Pro Bowls. I wasn’t surprised at all that he got no All-Pro selections–again, contemporaries he was up against–tough to be an All-Pro when three of the best players at your position (Favre, Manning, Brady) played over the same time span.

Winning the Super Bowl this past year if he’d played? Speculation, which I doubt any HOF voter is going to do–and from what I’ve heard, you’re in the minority in thinking that they should have started him over Dak (I don’t really have an opinion on it, other than to argue that based on recent history, the liklihood that he would have made it through the games healthy would have been in question).

The 10 games per season? Yeah, I did the easy math on that one. If we look at 2007-2016 (the seasons where he went into the season EXPECTED to be the starting QB), he started 117 games out of 160–11.7 per season. Meaning on average, he missed 4 games per season. Yes, he had 7 seasons where he started 13 or more games–but the point is, he still missed a relatively high number of games, and he doesn’t have a high number of total starts in his career (due in part to length, part to injury). Ryan has more starts, and didn’t start playing until Romo’s third season starting (second coming into the season as the starter). If Stafford makes it through another full season this year, he’ll have just 2 fewer starts. Philip Rivers, who entered the league in the same year, and got his starting job in the same season, has 176 starts–basically 50 more than Romo in the same time span, when they were both expected to be starters.

The Rich Gannon comparison–there may not be a comparison in efficience stats, and heck, their careers didn’t even overlap (Gannon’s last year with 3 starts was Romo’s rookie year on the bench), but there are a lot of other stats–many of which would be central to a HOF discussion–where they do match up, and in some cases, Gannon wins out (2 time All-Pro).

No, I wouldn’t argue that Gannon deserves a spot in Canton–not even close. But with so much lining up in their career stats, how could I then argue that Romo does, given that the areas that Romo excels in are 1) split level statistical analysis, and 2) still behind many of his peers?

To me, Romo falls into the classification of Hall of Very Good, but not Hall of Fame. Yes, Cowboy fans should love him, and what he did for the franchise. Yes, he probably deserves to be in the Cowboys Ring of Honor, maybe even have his #9 retired. But Canton? That’s got to be blue-star tinted glasses looking at things.

bachslunch
on April 5, 2017 at 6:19 pm

My guess is that Tony Romo is unlikely to be elected, though one never knows. Agreed that he’s a borderline candidate, though it would be good to look at his case more closely.

Rasputin
on April 5, 2017 at 9:35 pm

Actually, Tony, I said he probably won’t get into Canton get any time soon if at all, and certainly didn’t call him a “lock”. But your op did short shrift his case. On yards per game PFR is absurdly counting his seasons spent as a backup because technically he “played” in those games as a holder (yes, I’ve dug deeper into the stats than you : )). That’s one of the flaws in PFR I’ve discovered over the years that you have to watch out for. If you go from 2007 through 2015, when he’s starting all the games he’s “playing” in, PFR’s got him at 267.1 y/g. Adding in his 2006 starts wouldn’t change that much. The point is the guy was a big time passer. No straw grasping.

PFR does have Romo at 30 career 4th Q/OT game winning drives, which is probably methodologically different than “comebacks” (what you said he had 25 of), if that’s what you were looking at, since a game winning drive can occur when the score is tied. Either way it’s a lot. Pro Bowl/All Pro accolades aren’t as a big a deal for QBs because it’s a more stat/result based position (Staubach was never AP first team All Pro despite leading the NFL in passer rating 4 seasons and being the 1970’s best QB; maybe media voters tend to be more enamored of raw yardage totals because they’re easier to look at), but I’d love for someone to try to rationally defend Romo getting passed over for the Pro Bowl in 2011 when he played all 16 games and completed 66.3% of his passes for 4,184 yards, 31 TDs, 10 INTs, and a 102.5 rating.

As for Gannon….

Career Passer Rating

Tony Romo – 97.1
Rich Gannon – 84.7

Completion Percentage –

Tony Romo – 65.3%
Rich Gannon – 60.2%

In the 9 seasons (out of 17) Gannon played enough to qualify, he only ranked in the top 10 in passer rating 4 times, the top 5 twice, and outside (often way outside) the top 10 a majority of seasons. Gannon only ranked in the top 10 in completion percentage twice.

Romo ranked in the top 10 in passer rating EVERY YEAR of the 8 he played enough to qualify, and in the top 5 four times. He ranked in the top 10 in completion percentage 6 times. In 2014, his last full season, Romo led the league with a 69.9% completion percentage and a 113.2 passer rating. Gannon never led in either category.

Gannon retired with a career passer rating lower than some guys who had already retired years earlier, like Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Steve Young, and lower than several contemporaries like Daunte Culpepper, Chad Pennington, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, etc.. On completion percentage he retired ranked below guys like Aikman, Montana, and Young along with several then still active players.

Romo ranks higher than every retired player in passer rating, and is only a tenth of a percent behind Tom Brady for 3rd all time. That puts him ahead of guys like Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, and waaaaay ahead of Eli Manning. In completion percentage he’s tied with the recently retired Peyton Manning for 5th all time and is only two tenths of a percent behind the fairly recently retired Kurt Warner. He ranks ahead of players like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Joe Flacco, and waaaaay above Eli Manning.

Romo won 61.4% of his starts while Gannon won 57,6% of his starts.

Gannon did lead the league in total yardage one year, which Romo didn’t do, but even in that metric Romo ranked in the top 5 three times while Gannon only ranked in the top 5 twice. Romo never ranked below 15th in yardage in all 8 qualifying seasons, including 2006 (when he started his first 10 games). Gannon only ranked in the top 15 in yardage 4 times in his 17 year career. Gannon only broke 3,000 yards 4 times and 4,000 yards once, while Romo threw for over 3,000 yards 7 times and broke 4,000 yards 4 times.

So no, unless you’re just counting Pro Bowls and noting that neither won a Super Bowl, they most certainly do NOT “line up”.

I’m certainly in the minority on whether he should have played last year, at least if you’re only counting media types plus me, lol, but I’m not a go with the flow guy. I’m perfectly happy to agree with the majority when it’s right. This time it’s wrong. There’s a lot of wagon circling by Dallas company men but the truth is….one and done ain’t no fun. Last year was a spectacular failure and a wasted opportunity, and anyone who says otherwise is either delusional, parroting company spin, or doesn’t care as much about winning Super Bowls as I do and Cowboys fans traditionally have. Sure none of us know what would have happened if they had played Romo. That’s the problem. They could have stuck to their original plan and played him when healthy to find out what he could have done with Zeke and this offensive line playing even better than in 2014. If it didn’t work you shrug your shoulders and put Dak back in. At least you would have known and carried no regrets going forward. Instead, we got a lot of BS about “chemistry” and superstitious garbage about what could happen if they bench a rookie on a winning streak. Well we sure know what happened when they left their best player on the bench: zero playoff wins. They finally got Romo his Emmitt Smith/Terrell Davis and didn’t even give him a chance to play with him. It was football malpractice and I saw the thing unfolding predictably the whole way like a Greek tragedy, or a train derailing in slow motion while the crew and passengers continued to grin and wave idiotically.

For what it’s worth, Romo’s last full season, 2014, was his best. He threw 34 TDs to 9 INTs and led the league in passer rating and completion percentage. What he did down the stretch, when DeMarco Murray ran out of gas (he was good but no Zeke), was incredible.

In December Romo threw 12 TDs to 1 INT, completing 74.8% of his passes for a 133.7 rating. In the two playoff games he threw 4 TDs and 0 INTs, posting a 143.6 rating in that final infamous game at Green Bay (and yes, Dez caught it, despite the league doing its own wagon circling since to cover their you now whats).

In 2015 he was coming off back surgery and rushed back prematurely, playing hurt to help the team. Out of the 4 games he managed to play, the Cowboys won the 3 he played the most in, and lost every game they played without Romo except for one 3 point squeaker Cassell grabbed against lowly Washington.

Romo sacrificed his body for years because frankly the team was really bad without him. He was about the only thing holding it above water. This was the guy who made Laurent Robinson famous with 11 TDs in his one season with Dallas (he combined for a total of 4 in his other five NFL seasons). And for most of his career his offensive line was average to poor. On the road against San Francisco in 2011, back when the 49ers had one of the toughest defenses in the league, an early hit on Romo broke his ribs and punctured his lung. He played through the injury the rest of the half but was pulled and missed most of the 3rd quarter. With Dallas down 24-14 in the 4th quarter and things looking grim, Romo came back into the game, punctured lung and all, and led a comeback that got them to OT, where he set up the win with a long pass to Jesse Holley of all people, Michael Irvin’s “Fourth and Long” reality show contest winner. I don’t know if Rich Gannon ever did anything like that. Romo played the next week and all 16 games that season because he knew he had to for the team to have a chance to win.

Sure he missed some games with broken collarbones, but that’s small ball quibbling when no one’s really making a volume argument for him (ala Elway, Moon, Marino, Favre), and when he has started more games for the Dallas Cowboys than any other QB but Aikman anyway.

The earlier passer rating stats didn’t include his 2016 rating of 134.4, where he was finally allowed to play one possession in the finale (albeit without Zeke), and drove the team down the field, making it look easy, validating reports out of practice for months that Romo looked phenomenal (way better than Prescott), doing things with passes even other elite QBs around the league couldn’t do, as if he was playing the best football of his life (not surprising given where he left off in 2014). His final play was a well executed TD pass, the only TD Dallas scored that day despite all their other QBs getting multiple possessions.

I didn’t say you were an idiot, just that a couple of your comments were stupid. They were (nobody’s perfect). At best they were too flippant. Given all the crap unfairly thrown at Romo over the years, often by morons at ESPN, I hardly think the center of discourse gravity demands he be mockingly equated to Rich Gannon and quickly dismissed, as if he had no unique or worthwhile legacy of his own. If anything the correction should be in the other direction. Whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame or not, Romo was very UNDER-rated through most of his career, He was a great QB (it’s called the “Hall of Fame”, not the “Hall of Great”; lots of great players fall short of Canton; “very good” is a lower rung still, which is why that “Hall of Very Good” expression comes off as shallow and poorly thought out ), and his legacy consists of numerous memorable moments like falling behind Buffalo on the road 24-13 after throwing 5 INTs the first half ( a rare bad performance and one even great QBs rarely recover from during a game) only to roar back with an awesome 4th quarter and win a 25-24 comeback victory after a successful onside kick with seconds left, and like these iconic plays:

His famous spin move may even be revolutionizing the game, as various QBs (including Prescott) have talked about trying to copy it.

PS – The Cowboys don’t retire jersey numbers. If they retired the number of every great player they’ve had they’d be out of numbers. Heck, they’ve got two 22s in the HoF and if Drew Pearson ever gets in they’ll have at least two 88s in Canton. If Chuck Howley finally gets in they’ll have two 54s.

Rasputin
on April 5, 2017 at 9:37 pm

“Your comment is awaiting moderation. ”

Ugh….because of a couple of youtube links? Come on, now. Let’s streamline this posting process guys. Maybe white-list certain safe sites and/or posters who have been regulars here for years.

Rasputin
on April 7, 2017 at 12:00 pm

Fine. It’s been 2 days so I’ll just repost without the links. Your loss.

Actually, Tony, I said he probably won’t get into Canton get any time soon if at all, and certainly didn’t call him a “lock”. But your op did short shrift his case. On yards per game PFR is absurdly counting his seasons spent as a backup because technically he “played” in those games as a holder (yes, I’ve dug deeper into the stats than you : )). That’s one of the flaws in PFR I’ve discovered over the years that you have to watch out for. If you go from 2007 through 2015, when he’s starting all the games he’s “playing” in, PFR’s got him at 267.1 y/g. Adding in his 2006 starts wouldn’t change that much. The point is the guy was a big time passer. No straw grasping.

PFR does have Romo at 30 career 4th Q/OT game winning drives, which is probably methodologically different than “comebacks” (what you said he had 25 of), if that’s what you were looking at, since a game winning drive can occur when the score is tied. Either way it’s a lot. Pro Bowl/All Pro accolades aren’t as a big a deal for QBs because it’s a more stat/result based position (Staubach was never AP first team All Pro despite leading the NFL in passer rating 4 seasons and being the 1970’s best QB; maybe media voters tend to be more enamored of raw yardage totals because they’re easier to look at), but I’d love for someone to try to rationally defend Romo getting passed over for the Pro Bowl in 2011 when he played all 16 games and completed 66.3% of his passes for 4,184 yards, 31 TDs, 10 INTs, and a 102.5 rating.

As for Gannon….

Career Passer Rating

Tony Romo – 97.1
Rich Gannon – 84.7

Completion Percentage –

Tony Romo – 65.3%
Rich Gannon – 60.2%

In the 9 seasons (out of 17) Gannon played enough to qualify, he only ranked in the top 10 in passer rating 4 times, the top 5 twice, and outside (often way outside) the top 10 a majority of seasons. Gannon only ranked in the top 10 in completion percentage twice.

Romo ranked in the top 10 in passer rating EVERY YEAR of the 8 he played enough to qualify, and in the top 5 four times. He ranked in the top 10 in completion percentage 6 times. In 2014, his last full season, Romo led the league with a 69.9% completion percentage and a 113.2 passer rating. Gannon never led in either category.

Gannon retired with a career passer rating lower than some guys who had already retired years earlier, like Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Steve Young, and lower than several contemporaries like Daunte Culpepper, Chad Pennington, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, etc.. On completion percentage he retired ranked below guys like Aikman, Montana, and Young along with several then still active players.

Romo ranks higher than every retired player in passer rating, and is only a tenth of a percent behind Tom Brady for 3rd all time. That puts him ahead of guys like Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, and waaaaay ahead of Eli Manning. In completion percentage he’s tied with the recently retired Peyton Manning for 5th all time and is only two tenths of a percent behind the fairly recently retired Kurt Warner. He ranks ahead of players like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Joe Flacco, and waaaaay above Eli Manning.

Romo won 61.4% of his starts while Gannon won 57,6% of his starts.

Gannon did lead the league in total yardage one year, which Romo didn’t do, but even in that metric Romo ranked in the top 5 three times while Gannon only ranked in the top 5 twice. Romo never ranked below 15th in yardage in all 8 qualifying seasons, including 2006 (when he started his first 10 games). Gannon only ranked in the top 15 in yardage 4 times in his 17 year career. Gannon only broke 3,000 yards 4 times and 4,000 yards once, while Romo threw for over 3,000 yards 7 times and broke 4,000 yards 4 times.

So no, unless you’re just counting Pro Bowls and noting that neither won a Super Bowl, they most certainly do NOT “line up”.

I’m certainly in the minority on whether he should have played last year, at least if you’re only counting media types plus me, lol, but I’m not a go with the flow guy. I’m perfectly happy to agree with the majority when it’s right. This time it’s wrong. There’s a lot of wagon circling by Dallas company men but the truth is….one and done ain’t no fun. Last year was a spectacular failure and a wasted opportunity, and anyone who says otherwise is either delusional, parroting company spin, or doesn’t care as much about winning Super Bowls as I do and Cowboys fans traditionally have. Sure none of us know what would have happened if they had played Romo. That’s the problem. They could have stuck to their original plan and played him when healthy to find out what he could have done with Zeke and this offensive line playing even better than in 2014. If it didn’t work you shrug your shoulders and put Dak back in. At least you would have known and carried no regrets going forward. Instead, we got a lot of BS about “chemistry” and superstitious garbage about what could happen if they bench a rookie on a winning streak. Well we sure know what happened when they left their best player on the bench: zero playoff wins. They finally got Romo his Emmitt Smith/Terrell Davis and didn’t even give him a chance to play with him. It was football malpractice and I saw the thing unfolding predictably the whole way like a Greek tragedy, or a train derailing in slow motion while the crew and passengers continued to grin and wave idiotically.

For what it’s worth, Romo’s last full season, 2014, was his best. He threw 34 TDs to 9 INTs and led the league in passer rating and completion percentage. What he did down the stretch, when DeMarco Murray ran out of gas (he was good but no Zeke), was incredible.

In December Romo threw 12 TDs to 1 INT, completing 74.8% of his passes for a 133.7 rating. In the two playoff games he threw 4 TDs and 0 INTs, posting a 143.6 rating in that final infamous game at Green Bay (and yes, Dez caught it, despite the league doing its own wagon circling since to cover their you now whats).

In 2015 he was coming off back surgery and rushed back prematurely, playing hurt to help the team. Out of the 4 games he managed to play, the Cowboys won the 3 he played the most in, and lost every game they played without Romo except for one 3 point squeaker Cassell grabbed against lowly Washington.

Romo sacrificed his body for years because frankly the team was really bad without him. He was about the only thing holding it above water. This was the guy who made Laurent Robinson famous with 11 TDs in his one season with Dallas (he combined for a total of 4 in his other five NFL seasons). And for most of his career his offensive line was average to poor. On the road against San Francisco in 2011, back when the 49ers had one of the toughest defenses in the league, an early hit on Romo broke his ribs and punctured his lung. He played through the injury the rest of the half but was pulled and missed most of the 3rd quarter. With Dallas down 24-14 in the 4th quarter and things looking grim, Romo came back into the game, punctured lung and all, and led a comeback that got them to OT, where he set up the win with a long pass to Jesse Holley of all people, Michael Irvin’s “Fourth and Long” reality show contest winner. I don’t know if Rich Gannon ever did anything like that. Romo played the next week and all 16 games that season because he knew he had to for the team to have a chance to win.

Sure he missed some games with broken collarbones, but that’s small ball quibbling when no one’s really making a volume argument for him (ala Elway, Moon, Marino, Favre), and when he has started more games for the Dallas Cowboys than any other QB but Aikman anyway.

The earlier passer rating stats didn’t include his 2016 rating of 134.4, where he was finally allowed to play one possession in the finale (albeit without Zeke), and drove the team down the field, making it look easy, validating reports out of practice for months that Romo looked phenomenal (way better than Prescott), doing things with passes even other elite QBs around the league couldn’t do, as if he was playing the best football of his life (not surprising given where he left off in 2014). His final play was a well executed TD pass, the only TD Dallas scored that day despite all their other QBs getting multiple possessions.

I didn’t say you were an idiot, just that a couple of your comments were stupid. They were (nobody’s perfect). At best they were too flippant. Given all the crap unfairly thrown at Romo over the years, often by morons at ESPN, I hardly think the center of discourse gravity demands he be mockingly equated to Rich Gannon and quickly dismissed, as if he had no unique or worthwhile legacy of his own. If anything the correction should be in the other direction. Whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame or not, Romo was very UNDER-rated through most of his career, He was a great QB (it’s called the “Hall of Fame”, not the “Hall of Great”; lots of great players fall short of Canton; “very good” is a lower rung still, which is why that “Hall of Very Good” expression comes off as shallow and poorly thought out ), and his legacy consists of numerous memorable moments like falling behind Buffalo on the road 24-13 after throwing 5 INTs the first half ( a rare bad performance and one even great QBs rarely recover from during a game) only to roar back with an awesome 4th quarter and win a 25-24 comeback victory after a successful onside kick with seconds left, and iconic plays like when the snap went over his ahead on 3rd and 3 and he ran back 35 yards to his own 15 yard line to scoop it up and dodged and weaved his way through defenders back up for a first down, or when he spun out of JJ Watt’s tackle and immediately fired a 43 yard TD to Terrence Williams as he got knocked to the ground by another defender.

Romo’s a QB whose highlights are worth checking out on youtube. His famous spin move may even be revolutionizing the game, as various QBs (including Prescott) have talked about trying to copy it.

PS – The Cowboys don’t retire jersey numbers. If they retired the number of every great player they’ve had they’d be out of numbers. Heck, they’ve got two 22s in the HoF and if Drew Pearson ever gets in they’ll have at least two 88s in Canton. If Chuck Howley finally gets in they’ll have two 54s.

Rasputin
on April 7, 2017 at 12:13 pm

I was saying his 2016 134.4 rating didn’t count toward the year rankings for qualifying seasons I provided. Obviously it did count toward his career number. I should have been clearer about that.

Rasputin
on April 7, 2017 at 2:23 pm

Correction – Romo’s back surgery was the year before. I was thinking about him rushing back in 2015 before fully healing after his first injury to try and salvage the team’s season, getting injured the second time in the process.

Rasputin – Sorry about the delay–it is just set to flag any comment with more than 1 link, I believe. I’ll see if we can whitelist either commenters or sites.

We can throw the Gannon argument out–I don’t think Gannon was a better QB. I’d argue that in some important categories that HOF voters look at–not that they should–that they have some similarities. And I’m not at all arguing that Romo wasn’t a damn good quarterback.

But ultimately, I think he falls well short in HOF voting, partly due to lack of postseason success, and partly because of the volume game (due to career length/injuries)–I would argue voters will look at that, and most importantly they will see a lot of contemporaries who far surpassed him. He’s not up against Elway, Moon, Marino, Favre. He’s not up against other Cowboy quarterbacks that he’s outperformed. He’s up against Brady, Brees, Peyton, Rodgers, Eli, Roethlisberger, Ryan, Rivers, and to an extent Luck, Newton, Wilson and Flacco. I’d rather have Romo at his prime than a few of those guys, for multiple reasons. But most of them will have as strong (or stronger) cases for Canton.

And he deserves some credit for going out there, sometimes when he probably shouldn’t have, and playing through it–although, you say they would have been terrible without him, but for a chunk of his career, his being there didn’t make them into that much better of a team. Not his fault–you guys were hampered by a General Manager that may have overvalued his player (and coach) selection abilities.

Romo did have a lot of crap heaped on him during his career. Some of it deserved (you can argue stats all you want, but he was 2-4 in playoff games–just six playoff games in 8 seasons as the main guy–that’s what will ding a Rivers, Ryan or Stafford at this point, although they’ll have better volume stats), and a lot of it probably not (lord knows ESPN will hammer stuff into the ground–especially negative). I would also argue that he didn’t deserve basically a full day of coverage of his retirement/CBS announcement, either–not like it was a slow news day. Maybe ESPN finally switched away when we got sick of it here in the office–and I’ll give NFLN a little more leeway to cover it, but they really hammered it into the ground as well (maybe because they repeat their programming so much, though).

Sounds to me like at the end of the day we both think that he probably won’t make it–I wouldn’t argue that his case shouldn’t be made/heard, but I would argue (presumably moreso than you) that the case just doesn’t stack up. All that being said, it wouldn’t shock me if he actually did get in at some point–wouldn’t mean I agree with the selection (like Lynn Swann, and even Terrell Davis).

Rasputin
on April 7, 2017 at 6:37 pm

That’s why I added the rankings against contemporary QBs. Honestly at his best (Romo was clearly very much still in his “prime” at least as of 2014) , all things being equal (team and coaching staff), I’d put Romo up there with Brady, Peyton Manning, Brees, and Rodgers, with the other guys you mentioned a step below. That’s why I always maintained that with one Super Bowl win he would and should be a lock for the HoF. Without that ring though it’ll be a tough road to hoe.

Robert Ewing
on April 8, 2017 at 4:54 pm

I’ll be blunt and honest romp had better not get in before howley. #howley2018

@Rasputin – Yeah, Super Bowl would have helped his cause a lot–might have struggled still against Big Ben & Eli (since they have 2 each, and Eli has SB MVP awards), and possibly even Flacco (since he has SB MVP, and could surpass Romo in the long run with volume stats), but before the shoulder issues, I would have taken Romo over Eli and Flacco for sure, and often likely ahead of Ben as well.

What do you think of the retirement? Seems like he changed gears all of a sudden–wonder if Jerry Jones had just released him, rather than trying to squeeze a draft pick out of him, if he’d have gone to Houston or Denver had had a chance or two to finally get that ring (possibly at Dallas’ expense, though, of course)…

Robert Ewing
on April 10, 2017 at 9:55 pm

tony i think your bottom point makes sense jones could have gotten at least 1 or 2 picks for romo

Paul
on April 11, 2017 at 10:20 am

Romo has been considering retirement since end of the season, and had been in talks with CBS since then. Has become pretty clear that he was not committed to continuing his career due to family, health issues and chance to make millions with CBS. I am sure this raised concerns with Denver and Houston as to his lack of commitment to playing. Along with his age, contract, and recent injuries, it became pretty clear there was no trade interest and likely no strong signing interest as FA. If he really wanted to play, and Denver or Houston really wanted him, they could have traded but clearly did not. So this idea that Jerry failed to make a trade is a joke since it takes another team to make a trade and clearly there were none.

As to his PFHOF chances, I would say slim to none. I have followed his career as closely as anyone and been a fan, but it is clear to me that he ranks perhaps 7th-10th in terms of QBs of his era, and without SB, MVP, and All Pro teams (plus a 2-4 playoff record), he simply falls short of the standard expected for PFHOF QBs of the SB era. And I know he has some strong career numbers in terms of passing completion rate and passing rating, but those are simply not going to be enough and with the direction of the passing game likely to be passed in the future by others. He did not play long enough to get to the top of the career passing records of yards and TDs, and although he had a few great seasons, his play was not great for long enough period. Romo had a great career but I am very certain he will never get in the PFHOF.

Robert Ewing
on April 11, 2017 at 2:23 pm

second on that paul about romo not getting into the hof

Rasputin
on April 11, 2017 at 2:24 pm

Tony, yeah, I can’t say for sure, but if Romo had been a free agent several weeks ago it’s difficult to see him not on an NFL roster now. Jones might be secretly happy Romo’s retiring rather than facing the prospect of having both DeMarcus Ware AND Tony Romo win SBs somewhere else. I’m not sure he’d value a draft pick over living that down.

I hate that he’s retiring, not only because I think he’s been a championship caliber QB who earned his storybook ending, but because I think right now he’d be still the Cowboys’ best chance to win the Super Bowl.

Paul
on April 11, 2017 at 6:30 pm

Given his recent string of injuries I have serious doubts that Romo would be best QB option for Dallas especially given Dak’s performance last year. Dallas can not afford a repeat of 2015 season. Like team and majority of Dallas fans I am willing to take better chance with Dak.

Rasputin
on April 12, 2017 at 12:47 am

Read my comments above about going with the majority herd. I prefer to be an independent thinker. Let’s be logical. “Doubts”? Speculation. That was my point. We know facts like Romo had the best passer rating in the NFL in 2014, his last full season. We know the Cowboys won 3 of 4 games he played in 2015 and went 1-11 without him. We know he scored the only Cowboys TD in the 2016 regular season finale in the one possession he was allowed to play.

We don’t know for sure what would have happened if he had been given a chance to play once healthy in the middle of the season. That’s WHY he SHOULD have been allowed to play. To find out. That way we wouldn’t be speculating now.

Morons have compared his situation’s to Drew Bledsoe’s in Dallas and New England. The huge difference is Bledsoe played both those years so those teams knew what they had in him with those seasons’ versions of their teams, and they didn’t even have a new star RB like Zeke. He also certainly hadn’t led the NFL in passer rating in his most recent full seasons. In Dallas in particular he was benched for poor play. That’s not the case with Romo.

The potential gain of NOT throwing away your best seasonal chance to win the Super Bowl by starting a rookie all the way far outweighs the worst that likely could have happened. If Romo played poorly or got injured then you could just put Dak back in and move on. Maybe you lose a game or two, or even win but in ugly fashion (as they did some with Dak anyway).

But what if he didn’t? What if the Cowboys were better with Romo at QB, as they always had been before and were again in the 2016 regular season finale? What if instead of beating teams by one or two scores each week Dallas averaged 30-40 points/game and blew teams out? What if Romo’s superior downfield passing threat opened things up for the running game so Elliott wasn’t routinely facing 8 or more guys in the box, and he had an even more monstrous season? What if the Cowboys had won the Super Bowl and reestablished themselves as a franchise that’s relevant on the field in the 21st Century as well as off?

I will never let Dallas off the hook for failing to find that out when they could have.

Paul
on April 12, 2017 at 8:54 am

24-38, 302 YDS, 3 TD, 1 INT- Dak’s numbers as a rookie QB in the Green Bay game, a loss as result of some great throws by Rodgers and poor defense by Dallas. If Dak had performed poorly in that game or during end season the “what if Romo” speculation may have some valid points, but Dak was not why Dallas lost to Green Bay and he earned OROY. If is very easy to create a more favorable outcome with Romo at QB but it is also just as easy to envision how someone who had not played a full game in over a year might be rusty or simply make a few more mistakes. Dallas made the right decision to stay with Dak due to the season he gave them and that he represents the future, he needed, deserved and earned the support of the coaches and teammates as their leader. With Dak (and a suspect defense) Dallas went 13-3 and into the playoffs, hard to image an improved season (more points per game with Romo, who cares!!) if Romo was allowed to start the last few games. Dallas and its fans have deserved every opportunity to not endure 2015 season again, and Dallas made the decision that every other team in the league would have done is to go with the hot hand at QB as far as Dak could take them. When Dak leads Dallas to the SB in the coming years (something Romo had good chances to do in 2007 and 2014 but failed), this silly debate that Romo should have replaced Dak late in the season or in the playoffs will be muted. Romo was a great QB and I am a big fan, but after 2007 and 2014 he had his chances and with age and injuries Dallas made the right choice.

Rasputin
on April 12, 2017 at 1:21 pm

You’re confused, Paul. I didn’t say Dak played “poorly”, especially for a rookie. But we aren’t grading on a curve, and his 103.2 rating in the playoff game only looks good until you compare it with Romo’s last playoff game.

He wasn’t the weakest part of the team, but Dak demonstrably didn’t give them enough to win, as proved by them not winning. Funny how you go so far as to blame Romo, saying HE “failed” in 2014, while letting Dak off the hook. Romo had NEVER played with a team as good as what Dallas had assembled last year. In 2007 Romo’s brilliance got the Cowboys to 13-3 despite an aging, immobile offensive line that got shredded the second half by the eventual Super Bowl champions. Even then Romo somehow managed to get them into a position to win and would have if not for Patrick Crayton dropping a good pass he had to catch in the clutch.

In 2014 Dallas finally had a good RB in DeMarco Murray, and we caught glimpses of what Romo could be with that complement. But Murray wasn’t anywhere near as dynamic a player as Ezekiel Elliott. Murray wore down and wasn’t the same in the stretch of the season. I posted above how in Romo’s last extended time as a starter in December 2014 he threw 12 TDs to 1 INT, completing 74.8% of his passes for a 133.7 rating. What would rookie Dak Prescott’s numbers have been this past year without Zeke? Just watching every play it was clear that Prescott doesn’t have Romo’s passing ability, especially downfield, nor yet have his rapport with Dez. The beauty of being an independent thinker is that I’m free to point that “every other team in the league” (as you speculate) is wrong, and rationally explain why they’re wrong as I have here. And again, I’m talking about putting Romo in at the middle of the regular season once he was physically cleared to play, not suddenly in the playoff game (though he might have been fine there too; he certain played awesome in the regular season finale).

Prescott may be the future, but Tony Romo was the present in 2016, and Dallas made the wrong decision to not find that out for sure. God knows he had earned that right over the years, as have long suffering fans. You don’t squander the present for a sneak peek at the future in a season that’s your best in over 20 years to win the Super Bowl because of the team SURROUNDING the QB. Focusing on “the future” in a year that should have been about seizing the moment here and now with everything you’ve got was effectively giving up. and I don’t respect that. Even if Dak does win a Super Bowl at some point, it won’t justify the organization not going all out to try to win it all in 2016. Maybe they could have had more than one, including a deeply satisfying win for fans that provided a storybook ending to a decade long era in Cowboys history and finally got two future Ring of Honor members well deserved rings. Nowhere in your post did you really try to defend not giving Romo a chance to see what he could do, aside from simply repeating your insistence that avoiding that was the right thing to do, almost as if deep down you’re trying to convince yourself of that along with me.

Paul
on April 12, 2017 at 1:45 pm

Revisionist histories are fun, you can create any outcome you wish, including positive ones over the just as likely (or more likely) negative ones. Dallas owed Romo nothing, he did not earn the right to jump back in as starter at end of season after Dak worked hard and took the team on 11 game win streak and into the playoffs-outcomes no one would have predicted once Romo was injured (again). If anyone was owed or earned the right to start remainder of season and playoff start. And do not give me the line that behind that OL and with Zeke, any QB could have led that team. Playing QB is just as much about preparation and in-game decision making and on those counts Dak delivered all season long. Dallas made the right decision in staying with Dak and one that any smart team would have done given the same situation. As long as Dak was winning during the season, there was no way or reason to remove him, clearly he had the support of his teammates and coaches, worked hard to serve as QB, performed very well and had team winning and preforming at high level. Regardless of his experience and skill set, Romo with his recent injuries would have been an unnecessary risk for the team to take mid season. And I am defending the teams decision not to start Romo as it was the right one, Dak proved and earned the job and there was no reason to take him out. If Dallas was all in for 2016 (and they were only in that position by end of season because Dak stepped up when Romo was injured, without Dak this team is looked at 2015 all over again, regardless of Zeke) they should have focused more in recent years in addressing the pass rush weakness. I think Romo had a great career but one one including him is owed a storybook finish (unlikely he would have gotten one anyways). As much as I am a Romo supporter and fan, I am first and foremost a Cowboys fan and in my view the best chance they had during the season was with Dak and same for the playoffs. And unlike a loss in the playoffs with Romo at QB, Dallas now has the advantage of a seasoned and experienced young healthy QB for now and the future, one set to get this team to the SB. Dallas was not taking a sneak peek at Dak, remember he had to replace Romo and was forcing into playing and excelled, delivering a 13-3 season and playoff game. Dallas was not focusing on the future but the present, Dak was not an experiment he was the starting QB, he worked hard and earned the starts and right to continue to lead the team through the season and into the playoffs. Having lived through the 2015 season as soon as Romo was hurt again last August, followed by seeing how Dak took up and earned the job, lead the team, and performed at high level (earning deserved OROY) as a Dallas fan I made the shift to support the QB leading the team and not pining for a chance for Romo to have another shot. Like the team and most fans I am all in on Dak, he earned and deserved the chance and will for the forseeable future. Instead of dreaming of a revisionist history where Romo is carried off the SB field a winner (most unlikely outcome of last season) you should instead be focusing on what the future holds-you know how hard it is to find a young QB with all the mental and physical tools, plus energy and focus to succeed, improve and lead a team, and here Dallas is set for many years to come.

Rasputin
on April 12, 2017 at 2:59 pm

That “revisionist history” crack is funny coming from a guy who already credited Prescott with leading the team to the Super Bowl in your previous post. I posted objective facts supporting my argument. It’s not clear you understand what the term “revisionist history” means. Perhaps you meant counterfactual speculation, though you’ve also engaged heavily in that (e.g. assuring us with certainty that dire things would have happened if Romo had been allowed to play), and it’s sometimes a necessary component of analyzing consequences of different choices. However, your position is that you’re fine relying on such speculation about alternative history, while I’m the one arguing that the team should have taken the opportunity they had to play Romo and find out for sure so no such speculation would have been required. Your new post is basically just repeating garbage I’ve already refuted, if presented in a more rambling, strangely repetitive format (you really do seem like you’re doing affirmation chants to convince yourself of certain things), but I will respond to a couple of key points:

“And do not give me the line that behind that OL and with Zeke, any QB could have led that team.”

I never said any such thing. I’ve praised Dak extensively for playing great FOR A ROOKIE, and doing what the other backup QBs couldn’t pull off in the Romo era by winning consistently without him.

“(earning deserved OROY)”

Hogwash. Ezekiel Elliott should have been OROY, Offensive Player of the Year, and was legitimately in the argument for NFL MVP. Zeke was the rushing champion, first team All Pro, and the most dynamic player in the league in his rookie season. If the coaches hadn’t shut him down the last couple of games he would have shattered all sorts of records. Prescott was a borderline Pro Bowler. The team had a run-first offense that set up everything they did, especially with the more limited Prescott at QB. While not every QB could have done what Dak did, make no mistake: he likely wouldn’t have accomplished what HE did with ANY OTHER TEAM.

You: “And unlike a loss in the playoffs with Romo at QB, Dallas now has the advantage of a seasoned and experienced young healthy QB for now and the future, one set to get this team to the SB.”

Dak would have had that experience anyway having started several games as a rookie, though I appreciate you conceding, even if unwittingly, that you were valuing future considerations over winning it all in 2016. And again, you’re assuming Romo would have lost in the playoffs. I’m not. I think he likely wins, especially with home field advantage throughout and an offensive line and running game way better than what he had to deal with in 2007, when he was constantly scrambling for his life to carry the team to any place they got. Romo’s mere presence in the backfield would have forced safeties back and opened even more running lanes for Zeke. Assuming he didn’t get injured, the evidence overwhelmingly indicates it would have been like 2014 except even better.

When you talk about “2015” and shifting your support and not wanting to see certain things happen again, you sound emotional, not rational. The bottom line is that your latest post again failed to answer this question:

– Why not play Romo once healthy midway through the regular season to find out what happens so we don’t have to spend the future speculating?

What would have happened to chemistry, alleged locker room sentiment, and all that garbage if the Cowboys had kept winning with Romo and looked even better doing it? Even if the worst happened and Romo got injured again, why do you claim it would have been like 2015 when we already knew it wouldn’t be since we had a capable backup in Dak along with a better running game?

“you should instead be focusing on what the future holds-”

I don’t blame you for wanting to forget last season, especially if on some level you know the team and you were wrong. But, as a history buff, I know that you don’t want to walk into the future blind. You have to remember the past to understand the present and have some hope of dealing with the future. That includes the times you got it wrong as the organization did here.

I’m probably an even more die hard Cowboys fan than you are, and I desperately want them to win a Super Bowl, which is why I’m not satisfied with last year’s one and done campaign as you apparently are. I view it as a failure and a squandered opportunity.

Paul
on April 12, 2017 at 4:12 pm

Where did I say I wanted to forget last season? It was a season for the ages, 13-3 with rookie QB coming in and getting OROY plus play of Zeke, great memories and sets the stage for a very bright future for this team. And no where did I express at any level that I thought the team and I were wrong, made it pretty clear that I supported and continue to support the decision to stay with Dak throughout the season and into the playoffs. I am a diehard Cowboys fan and as much as the outcome was disappointing last year (which I do not blame on Dak), I am very excited about the near future for Dak and this team as they are well positioned to complete for a SB. I also want them to desperately win a SB and see Dak, Zeke, OL and potential improvements on the defense as giving them an even better chance in the coming years.

And as to Romo and win or lose in the playoffs, the odds for either are the same, as I mentioned just as easy as it is to envision an alternative history where he comes in and gets team to the SB there are many others in which he fails to do so.

Why not play Romo once healthy midway through the regular season to find out what happens so we don’t have to spend the future speculating? Because the aim is to win, which the team was doing under Dak, the aim is not to worry about whether there is need to see if Romo can still play and resolve any speculation about his future. The team and coaches were supporting and following the leadership of the QB on the field who was performing at a great level, especially for a 4th round rookie QB with little or no expectations coming into the season, then suddenly given the job and succeeding so well leading the team to win after win-why mess with that.

I think you are letting your like and strong support for Romo, and need to see him have a chance one more time to get to the SB, blind your vision of what the team was able to do under Dak and how the most positive outcome from the 2016 season is that Dak and the team are positioned moving forward and not prone to more lost seasons due to Romo injuries. I was disappointed at the lost opportunity in 2016, but do not blame that GB loss on Dak or feel Romo would have made a difference, more so that the team continues to struggle year after year in not addressing the pass rush. For me that was the lost opportunity in 2016.

Rasputin
on April 13, 2017 at 4:04 pm

Let me get this straight. Your answer to my question about why not play Romo in the middle of the season to see what he’s got with this crew is……………”Because the aim is to win, which the team was doing under Dak, the aim is not to worry about whether there is need to see if Romo can still play and resolve any speculation about his future.”

So you DON’T think PUTTING THE BEST PLAYERS ON THE FIELD, ESPECIALLY AT QB, IS CRITICAL TO WINNING? ESPECIALLY WINNING THE SUPER BOWL?

You’re wrong. You don’t determine starters by random lot and then stick with them if you happen to win your first game. A concern for winning it all is why they SHOULD have played Romo to find out if their veteran franchise QB could do even better than Prescott, as he had as recently as 2014 with an inferior supporting cast. You failed to cite what the down side of playing Romo was. It’s not like it would have been a guaranteed or even likely loss given the facts I’ve laid out above. There’d be no objective support for the notion that Romo was less likely to win than Prescott. All the reports were that Romo looked much better than Prescott in practice throughout the 2016 season once healthy, phenomenal even. And no, I’m the one who’s been posting hard facts here. You’re the one speaking in emotional terms and acting like you’re blind to reason. By saying things like “especially for a 4th round rookie QB with little or no expectations coming into the season”, it seems you’re also grading Prescott on a curve, as if you’re more concerned with him than the team. Certain individual awards aside, if the focus is on winning the Super Bowl then it doesn’t matter that Zeke and Prescott were rookies, or at least it’s not a good thing. They don’t award bonus points in the playoffs for being rookies.

In this discussion about 2016 on a page about a now retired QB you said I “should instead be focusing on what the future holds”. Of course I’m always thinking about the future, but making your comment about moving on “instead” while I’m specifically discussing last year implies that, at least on some level, you don’t want us discussing 2016, hence my comment about you wanting to forget it.

“Season for the ages”? “Great memories”? Like I figured, I care a lot more about winning the Super Bowl than you do. I saw it as a freaking Greek tragedy and an unnecessarily wasted opportunity. After not winning a divisional playoff game in 20 years the organization’s “brain trust” gets zero benefit of the doubt and I don’t care much about going 13-3 and failing to win a playoff game. Dallas went 13-3 in 2007 too. So what? And that year Romo carried the team without a great RB or O-line helping him. Zeke and the O-line carried the team in 2016.

I don’t blame Dak for losing. I blame the owner and coach for not using their best player, a great, seasoned QB who could have given them even more than the valiant effort the rookie put up. As for the future, who knows? They’ve already lost almost half the starters of that great O-line in the off season. They’ve lost most of their starting secondary. That 13-3 record works against them in the draft, as they’ll be picking near the end of each round, making it difficult to find impactful pass rush help.

Right now on paper the team is significantly worse than it was last year. Hopefully that changes, but that’s the nature of the Parity Era. You don’t typically build teams block by block, year by year, in a logical, upward progression anymore. Teams make the SB one year only to miss the playoffs the next year and vice versa. It’s a crap shoot. That’s why you can’t afford to squander rare opportunities the way Dallas did last year.